In honor of St. Paddy's Day today, the Holladay Platter would like to recognize one of the best Irish pubs I've ever visited. There are many great ones in Louisville, especially the Irish Rover, O'Shea's family of pubs, and Molly Malone's, who will all be doing it up big with green beer and Guinness flowing all day and night. I plan on stopping by one of these spots at some point. But for now let's talk about my great experience at McGuires Irish Pub in Destin, Florida (also located in Pensacola, FL) If you keep up with this blog, then you know the Holladay family enjoyed a heavenly beach vacation in September...ahh, to be back there again (sigh). Anyway, we had some spectacular seafood which I revealed in a post a few months ago. At the end of the vacation, we happened upon this fun Irish brew pub and steak house. After maxing out on seafood all week, McGuire's was a nice change of pace and is a definite must-do-again.
You might be wondering what's up with the dollar bill photo? Well, the entire pub is covered in dollar bills from floor to ceiling!! The servers even provide you with a marker to sign and a stapler to post it up. Another unique thing about the place is the bathrooms... they are purposely labeled to confuse drunk patrons, possibly leading them to the wrong one. For example, the women's bathroom has a huge "Men" sign with further explanation below for men to stop because it's the womens restroom!!". The writing below is much smaller and less noticeable. Leave it to Michael and I, to not only go in the wrong bathrooms, we used them too. In our defense, we each had one round of McGuire's Irish Stout.
The brewery features Ales, Stouts, and Porters and currently offers five regular selections along with a rotating seasonal beer. I really enjoyed the Irish stout that was robust, yet smooth and creamy. In addition to the brewery, they also have a tremendous wine cellar that is said to be one of the largest in the world!
We ordered from the lunch menu. Mom went for the traditional Shepherd's Pie with ground steak, veggies, Irish smashed potatoes, and cheddar cheese all baked into a golden brown casserole. It was piping hot. I'm not normally a fan of this but I must say, it was delicious. The rest of us dined on black angus steak burgers. They are enormous!! I was so sad to see my left-overs go to waste, since we had to go straight to the airport afterward. We easily could have split a burger. Guess, we'll know better next time. I did manage to eat nearly all of the thick and crispy Irish Potato Fries. They were so good in fact, I literally had to tell myself to stop eating them and try a bite of the burger. There are several angus burger styles to choose from. I enjoyed the guac and monteray jack burger, while dad feasted on the black and bleu cheese, and Michael savored the smoked gouda.
As, for the wait staff, they couldn't have been any friendlier or more attentive. Hopefully on our next visit, we can try out their dinner menu and catch some live music, along with more Irish brews of course. And hopefully we will make it into the appropriate bathrooms... but let's face it, we probably won't. Just remember, the next time you're staying on the amazing Emerald Coast, you must stop by McGuires Irish Pub for great steak burgers, brews, and fun... Live to Eat an Irish Platter!!! HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY
You might be wondering what's up with the dollar bill photo? Well, the entire pub is covered in dollar bills from floor to ceiling!! The servers even provide you with a marker to sign and a stapler to post it up. Another unique thing about the place is the bathrooms... they are purposely labeled to confuse drunk patrons, possibly leading them to the wrong one. For example, the women's bathroom has a huge "Men" sign with further explanation below for men to stop because it's the womens restroom!!". The writing below is much smaller and less noticeable. Leave it to Michael and I, to not only go in the wrong bathrooms, we used them too. In our defense, we each had one round of McGuire's Irish Stout.
The brewery features Ales, Stouts, and Porters and currently offers five regular selections along with a rotating seasonal beer. I really enjoyed the Irish stout that was robust, yet smooth and creamy. In addition to the brewery, they also have a tremendous wine cellar that is said to be one of the largest in the world!
We ordered from the lunch menu. Mom went for the traditional Shepherd's Pie with ground steak, veggies, Irish smashed potatoes, and cheddar cheese all baked into a golden brown casserole. It was piping hot. I'm not normally a fan of this but I must say, it was delicious. The rest of us dined on black angus steak burgers. They are enormous!! I was so sad to see my left-overs go to waste, since we had to go straight to the airport afterward. We easily could have split a burger. Guess, we'll know better next time. I did manage to eat nearly all of the thick and crispy Irish Potato Fries. They were so good in fact, I literally had to tell myself to stop eating them and try a bite of the burger. There are several angus burger styles to choose from. I enjoyed the guac and monteray jack burger, while dad feasted on the black and bleu cheese, and Michael savored the smoked gouda.
As, for the wait staff, they couldn't have been any friendlier or more attentive. Hopefully on our next visit, we can try out their dinner menu and catch some live music, along with more Irish brews of course. And hopefully we will make it into the appropriate bathrooms... but let's face it, we probably won't. Just remember, the next time you're staying on the amazing Emerald Coast, you must stop by McGuires Irish Pub for great steak burgers, brews, and fun... Live to Eat an Irish Platter!!! HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Great post! I came across your post while I was looking at Destin Florida vacation rentals, I'm happy I did because this makes me even more excited about my upcoming vacation. Thank you for sharing your post with us!
ReplyDelete